Sodor (Suspension) Bridge is Falling Down
by Red5T65
Summary: When Sir Topham Hatt is out of options for the Flying Kipper on an icy morning, Thomas and Percy are chosen. The result? Look at the title.
1. Ice Fishing

**A/N: I claim no ownership of Thomas and Friends** _ **or**_ **the Railway Series. They belong to Mattel (and the Awdry family) This is a nonprofit story based on Thomas and Friends.**

Sodor (Suspension) Bridge is Falling Down

It was early one morning in February, and the Flying Kipper needed taking.

Problem: Henry wasn't available, since he was due for a checkup.

Solution? Find BoCo.

Problem: BoCo was stuck at Brendam yard due to a switch failure.

Solution? Find Bear.

Problem: Again, Bear was also due for maintenance. He'd wanted his engine to not sound as loud as it did, and so requested he get it swapped out. Sir Topham Hatt said yes.

Solution? Get James to do it.

Problem: James was dealing with the trains to Kirk Machan after a power outage.

Solution? Get Gordon to do it.

Problem: Gordon was held up at London.

The final solution was decided upon. What was that solution? Have Thomas and Percy do it.

"Alright, Perce. You ready for this?" Thomas asked on their way to the harbor. "I guess. Never had to take the Kipper before." Percy replied, unsure. "It'll be fine. We'll do great! Now, where are those blasted fish vans…" Thomas trailed off. "Uh, Thomas?" Percy spoke up. "What?" Thomas replied, confused. "We got a problem." Percy stated. "What sort of problem?" Thomas asked, intrigued. "I've scoured the yard, and there's not a brakevan in sight." Percy semi-deadpanned. "Oh. Well, one of us can go back engine." Thomas replied, after a bit of thought. "You wanna do it?" Percy asked. "Let's flip. Driver, got any coins on you?" "As a matter of fact, I do. Percy, you call it."

The coin flew into the air, and Percy shouted, "HEADS!" When they looked at the coin, it was showing its backside. "Oh. Guess I'm it." "Mhm. Well, let's get going. I don't want to smell like fish the whole bloody morning." Thomas ordered. "Hey, isn't complaining about your general external state James's thing?" Percy asked, cheekily. "Oh, you would go there, wouldn't you?" Thomas spat out, before buffering up. As soon as he had gotten coupled, a green lamp shown, and the two set off towards the other end of the island.

Before long, the two had gotten underway, and were making good time. But there was trouble. At this time of year, in late February, the snow had started to melt. It was just enough today to create the slipperiest rails the engines had ever seen. "Oh, I hope we can make it up Gordon's Hill. This train is much too heavy to be going that fast with us in tow." Percy muttered. "Indeed. Well, we've got plenty of sand, and we've got plenty of speed. We'll be up and over before you can say, 'Fat Controller.'" Thomas replied, trying to boost Percy's confidence. It worked.

However, Thomas's motivational speech had spurred the trucks into their planning mode. They sniggered quietly. One of them, who happened to have a good sense of humor, said quietly, "Oh, you'll be up and over alright. But we'll see how you like it when you end up where the fish inside us came from!" The other trucks laughed. Percy bumped them, before shouting, "Quiet, you lot! We're dealing with the smell already! We don't have time for your nonsense!" The truck muttered to himself, "Oh, you may not have time now. But there'll be plenty of time later." To the other trucks, he added: "Let's send Thomas where our loads came from!"

By this point, the two tank engines had made it to Wellsworth with no problems. They had gone at maximum power towards Gordon's Hill, when the trucks set their plan into motion. "HOLD BACK! HOLD BACK!" they screeched. "OH NO YOU DON'T!" Thomas snapped. "DRIVER! SAND! NOW!" "ON IT!" his driver replied. Percy had also started laying sand down, and was surging as fast as he could up the slope. His driver watched the sand gauge anxiously, hoping it would be enough. In all honesty, it totally would've had it either a) not been so slippery, or b) the trucks hadn't decided to hold back. Eventually, Percy ran out of sand, and his wheels began to slide across the icily slick rails.

 **A/N: MWAHAHAHAHA! CLIFFHANGER! But in all seriousness, I think we all knew this sort of thing was bound to happen.**


	2. Flying Fish and Falling Bridges

**A/N: I own absolutely nothing (as of yet)**

Almost immediately, Thomas had noticed the load had seemed to have gotten heavier. _Uh-oh,_ he thought. _That can't be good_. Indeed, it wasn't. He had been giving it his all the whole time, and he heard a disconcerting *CREAK* when suddenly…

*CLANK!* The broken coupling hook dropped to the the ground, and Thomas shot forward. "AHHH! HELP!" he cried in alarm. Meanwhile, Percy could hold the heavy train no longer, and rolled down the hill, wheels slipping furiously. His driver slammed on the brakes as hard as he could, then jumped clear, along with his fireman. As he approached the yard, he whistled long and loud, waking Edward with a jolt. "PERCY! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF-OH NO! HANG ON!" Edward shouted, before he raced after Percy in hopes of coupling up so he could slow the Flying Kipper down.

While all that had been happening, Thomas's crew had also braked hard, and shut off his regulator completely. It did no good. Seeing this, they jumped clear near Maron to inform the stationmaster. "Alright, we need to divert Thomas. He's headed for the bridge, and Donald is returning with the midnight goods. That won't be pretty." The signalman had soon gotten the message, and was just about to send Thomas onto some trap points when he thundered by. _NO! I'd take derailment at this point! It's better than a crash!_ Thomas cursed, mentally. Then a realization struck him. _Uh-oh. Doesn't the middle track split at the bridge? That won't be-_ But before he could finish his thought, he felt a jolt in his wheels, and then noticed he was resting in the middle of the mighty suspension bridge on the ballast. _Botheration! How am I going to get out now!?_

Percy wasn't fairing much better. He was still rocketing down the track at top speed. The Wellsworth signalman had managed to send Percy into a siding. And he had. The problem was, it wasn't the runaway siding. It was in fact the siding engines from Edward's branch used while waiting for main line trains to pass. The siding stopped just in front of the station building, which was empty at this time. Percy, of course, couldn't know this, and so when he felt a sudden swerve, he sighed with relief. _I will stop. I will stop._ Edward, however, had seen everything. "PERCY! YOU'RE GOING TO CRASH!" "HUH!?" Percy then looked back. "OH NO! AHHH!" With a sickening *CRUNCH!* Percy managed to get himself into what would come to be known as "Breakfast Fish and Truck Chips," which meant he had slammed into a wall of a building, as Thomas had all those years ago, and gotten himself wedged inside a van of the Flying Kipper, just like Duck. He had also destroyed the last van, as Douglas had, which made everything that much worse for him. Edward soon arrived, and pulled most of the train away. The truck Percy had wedged himself into was fit to burst, and as Edward buffered up, it exploded. Tidmouth kippers flew everywhere, and soon, the whole station reeked of fish.

Elsewhere, Thomas was still stuck on the bridge. Then, it started to sag. _Uh-oh. This can't be good._ And it wasn't. Not at all. With an awful groan, and some hideous creaking, the cables came loose, and Thomas plummeted into the gorge. Pretty soon, the rest of the bridge followed suit, and with one loud *CRASH!* The remains of the bridge settled onto the still-frozen river.

 **A/N: Well, Thomas and Percy are now out of action. But how will they get Thomas out? And who exactly will be getting him out?**


	3. Lifting Up and Pulling Out

**A/N: Still own nothing.**

By this point, BoCo had rolled into Wellsworth, pulling the Breakdown Train behind him. As he came in, he saw Percy being dragged out of the wall by Edward. He immediately asked, "Where's Thomas?" Edward replied, "He shot off in the other direction. I heard a loud *CRASH!* earlier, so you should probably check it out." BoCo had heard enough, and went out to see exactly what had happened to Thomas.

When he reached the gorge, he saw it. "Oh my. This will be… tough to deal with." He was unphased, however, and soon, Judy and Jerome were in place, preparing to lift Thomas out. "You ready, Jerome?" "Always, Judy." With that, the two set to work. Within a few hours, Thomas was freed, and the debris cleared. However, a new problem arose: How would they get Thomas, as well as Percy, to the Steamworks without the bridge?

Sir Topham Hatt had the answer: Establish a temporary ferry service between Brendam and Kirk Ronan (The track to Brendam had been strengthened a long time ago, as had the track to Kirk Ronan) "This service will require the Sodor Line, and I have talked with her captain and he is willing to provide the ferry service. It shall run once every two hours, and will be in place for as long as is necessary. Is this clear?" All the engines who could make it to Knapford, which was about half, said "Yes sir!" The other half received the message by PA at Vicarstown.

Later, at Brendam Docks…

Thomas and Percy had been brought by flat truck to the Docks, and were then loaded onto the Sodor Line by Cranky and Big Mickey, respectively. Percy, who hadn't been to the Docks recently, was very surprised when Big Mickey spoke. "Ah. Hello there. You're Percy, aren't you?" "AHHH! A MONSTER'S TRYING TO GET ME!" Percy shrieked in alarm. "Oh. Sorry about that. I'm Big Mickey. You've probably seen me before." "Oh. It's _you_. Well then. Hi there, Big Mickey." "Well, have a good time at the Steamworks!" "Thanks! See you in a couple of weeks!"

With that, the Sodor Line's horn blew and pulled away from the pier.

 **A/N: How long will Thomas and Percy be out of action for? Who will take over in their absence? Find out next time.**


	4. Back on the Branch

Chapter 4: Back on the Branch…

 **A/N: I still don't have the rights to these engines. I sort of wish I did.**

Back on Thomas's Branch, there was a problem: Thomas and Percy were both gone. However, it was not nearly as bad as it seemed. There had always been a contingency for this sort of thing, which involved Mavis taking Toby's stone trains, and Toby helping with the extra goods work. The engine who was still available would do passenger runs, as well as do goods work. If they were both unavailable, then Daisy would be forced to come over from the Harwick branch, where she would take care of passenger runs and some light goods work, normally involving farm produce and mail. But that was it. If Toby was out, on the other hand, that was a whole different ordeal. But that's a story for another day. (Mostly involving Mavis and sometimes Duck, or even possibly Oliver.)

"I wonder how they're getting on…" Thomas pondered. "I'm sure they'll be fine. I'll be out before you are, I know that much. Then I can take care of Annie and Clarabel!" Percy replied, ever the optimist. "I know, but still. No one ever handles them as well as I do." Thomas said, with a rather pensive undertone. "Except me and possibly Duck." Percy put in. "Well, you two have the advantage of being the earliest _to_ take them. Toby never needs to." Thomas retorted. "But him and Oliver have their own coaches! They know how to handle them." Percy snapped. "Well, they're different!" Thomas had gotten rather frustrated. "Yeah, but they're still coaches! Besides, Annie and Clarabel _never_ complained when Duck covered for you! They _always_ do whenever you take them!" Percy had gotten sucked in by the whirlpool of anger that Thomas currently was. "How do _you_ know?" Thomas shot back." "Um… their sheds are _literally two tracks over_. It's not that hard to hear them. They're also on my side, which helps a lot." Percy reasoned. "Oh… right. Well then. I guess you win this one, Perce." Thomas admitted.

Percy was found to have had only a few faults, mostly involving his funnel, bunker, and buffer beams. Otherwise, he was fine. He'd had no damage to his tanks, and minimal to his roof and dome. His whistle _was_ loose, however, and he had a few dents on his smokebox.

Thomas had suffered the worst of it. His wheels were dented, his coupling rods were _gone_ , his undercarriage had debris lodged in it, his funnel was _missing_ , as was his whistle, his bunker had been partially smashed in, his buffer beams were _also_ missing, his dome felt very loose, his water tanks had been punctured, his cab had caved in, and his smoke box had been flattened on both sides. He had been groaning somewhat nonstop for a few hours by that point.

Victor rolled up to see how they were doing. "So, you two, how are you feeling?" "Pretty good. How long will I be in here?" Percy inquired. "No more than a month and a half." Victor replied. "What about you, Thomas?" "Owww…" was all he could get out by then. "Oh. Well then. You'll be in here for a few months while we sort this out." Victor stated solemnly. "Get comfortable!" Suddenly, a loud *CLANG!* was heard, along with… "Sorry boss. Slip-" "-Of the hook, I know. Just pick it up, Kevin." "Yes boss."

Meanwhile, at Knapford Junction…

James had just pulled up to the platform with his daily stopping train, as the power had returned to the Kirk Machan branch, and he had gone back to his regular duties. Toby was there. "Ah, remember when I first arrived, and I called you out about that bootlace all those years ago?" He asked, remembering rather fondly. "Yes, I _do_. And it was not and still is not, funny." James retorted, feeling very insulted. "Oh, is it not? Because I found it hilarious!" Toby then laughed hysterically for a short while. "Oh… I have half a mind to go over to this branch line and biff you so hard you'll fall to pieces!" James was bordering on psychopathic "JAMES! That is _too_ far!" Toby tried to calm him down. It didn't work. "SCREW GOING TOO FAR!" James finally snapped. He shot forward, having snapped the coupling of the front coach, and tore down the line for a good long while. Toby simply watched in astonishment at the spectacle. Eventually, he regained his ability to speak. "Well that was… something. Oh well. I really should be going." With a loud *TWEET!* from the conductor's whistle and a short *DING!* of his bell, he set off down the line.

James, meanwhile, was now out of control. His jerky start from the junction had knocked his crew off the footplate, and he was quickly gathering speed.


End file.
